Photo copying machine



F. E. ALTMAN EFAL PHOTO COPYING MACHINE- March 11, 1941.

IREDERICKA. TaMPKms Filed March 22, 1939 FRED E.ALTMAN INVENTORS PM Patented Mar-(11,1941 i I 2,234,717

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PHOTO COPYING MACHINE Fred E. Altman and Frederick A. Tompkins, Rochester, N. Y asslgnors to Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application March 22, 1939, Serial No. 263,424

7 Claims. (Cl. 88-24) This invention relates to photographic appaa copy compartment and the other i5, being ratus and particularly to direct photo copying a paper or reproduction compartment. machines of the type including a reflector in the In compartment 6 a sensitive paper strip optical system. i8 is fed from a supply roll i1, under an idler Hi,

It is the object of this invention to provide an over a driven roll 20 and undera guide 2| that inexpensive, compact and sturdy photo copying serves to maintain feeding contact between the machine which can be operated by even the most paper and the roll 20, the whole constituting part inexperienced oilice clerks. 01 a paper-feeding mechanism. The paper after It is a particular object of one embodiment of leaving the guide 2| may be cut oil in a dark the invention to provide a photo copying machine chamber 22 or may befed directly to a processing 0 which makes unit magnification positive or negatank or machine in any welll known manner.

tive copies of flexible sheet originals and in which A letter, a document or any flexible sheet origthe originals may be photographed andsent to inal to be copied isfed into the machine at an r their proper destination without delay and the opening 24 and along a guide plate 25, whence it record thereotprocessed at any convenient later passes under a guide 26 and pressure rolls 21, time. and is thereby held in feeding contact with a According to the invention, these objects are driven feed roll 28. After passing partly around accomplished by employing a .continuous feed the latter the copy slides down a guide plate 29 mechanism to move the original, which is to be and issues at 30 on the same side of the casing '20 copied, past an exposure gate and another conl0 into which it was fed.

I and other advantages of the invention are propulley 35, which, if rotating as shown in Fig. 3

tinuous feed mechanism synchronized therewith The shafts of rolls 20 and 28 are connected, as to move photo-sensitive sheet material such as y gears 3| d 2 p v ly On their Outer ordinary photographic paper or direct positive ends, and idler pinions 33 and 34 between said paper past an image plane. The compactness gears. One of the gears 3! or 32 carries a driven vided by having this exposure gate and image will cause the rolls 28 and 20 to rotate in oppoplane adjacent to each other and by having a site directions as indicated, and at equ l Speedsfocusing reflector arranged to focus the light v usly any suitabl dire t up n a s from the exposure gate onto the image plane. may be used and it a simple spur gear train is n The feed mechanisms comprise two elongated used, as shown, it must contain an even number Parallel rollers over which the original and the f D1 e photosensitive paper are accurately guided and The orig nal passing Over 1 28 s s y which are geared to move together and in oppoill at d, f p e y a lamps 35 in site directions so that the image of the original the C PY compartment 5, which lamps may be 35 as projected onto the photosensitive paper moves swung as indicated in broken lines to various in synchronism with the paper thus eliminating positions about a pivot 31 to vary the intensity any blurring or distortion of the image. Th of illumination. The lamps 36 are almost ens ar ns oi the two rollers maybe provided by any tirely enclosed by a h us n 38, pt f r a suitable means, but preferably by a direct spur Opening 39 therein, thr h which li ht fr m 40 gear train. the lamps strikes the original passing over the 40 To the end that the invention may be fully ll 28, a ap rture 0 in sat 6 in p v d d I understood, a preferred embodiment is illustrated 1 limit th ill na d ar Th p r in the accompanying drawing, in whi h; may be increased ordecreased in area circumfer- Fig.1 is a vertical sectional elevation of aphoto ehtielly 1' h ro l 28 y a slide of adjustable c pying machine embodying the invention, closure Plate ll. 45 Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section on line 2-4 f To reduce the illumination of the original when Fig. 1 showing a detail; and "faster" photographic paper is being used, a vari- Fig. 3 is a detail, in elevation. to show the driv able resistance, not shown, may be interposed in ing connections between the feed rolls. the lamp circuit and adjusted in any well known According to the invention, a copying machine manner to suit the paper. So-called bromide 50 is made .up of a casing IO, having suitabl access I paper, for instance, is much faster than "directdoors II, II, II, and with a partition I extendp itiv paper and the efore P rmits of a greatly ing from the top of the casing to the bottom reduced light intensity or a faster feeding speed thereof. The casing I is thus divided into two of the original copy and the sensitive paper.

compartments, the one designated as I! being At the top of easing ll, and centrally on the partition 14, is a focusing reflector, adapted to receive light reflected from the original, and project an image of the latter to the photo-sensitive paper. This focusing reflector may be any one of several optical combinations or even merely a suitable concave reflector. In the preferred form of the invention illustrated herewith it is a plane reflector 2'3 and one half 62 of a symmetrical lens,

mounted in a tubular cell 53. This lens may be of the Graf type or of any suitable design in which identical front and rear components would be employed if the lens were to be used in straight photography. However, in the present invention, the light from the original at the gate aperture 49 passes through the half-lens which consists of the element 82 and is then refiectcd from the front-surfaced mirror 23, andthence :back through the lenselemen't. The angle between the optical axis of the lens and the path of the light reaching thelens from the original is such that the light reflected from mirror 23 issues through the lens and enters the paper compartment of the machine, where it is focused at unit magnification on the image plane 43, that is, on the photosensitive paper IS. The original and the paper move at the same linear speed (the rolls 28 and 26 preferably but not necessarily being equal in diameter) and thus as the original passes the aperture ill the image thereof moves synchronously with the paper l8 and the pro-- jected image when developed will be sharp and clear, without bluror distortion. Furthermore, this optical arrangement accomplishes the lateral inversion which all direct-copying machines re-- quire. Obviously the focusing reflector 33 is spaced from each of the rolls a distance substantially equal to twice its focal length in order to give one to one magnification.

It will be noted that in the present design the path of projection is restricted to a small casin by the use of the optical system and reflector illustrated, resulting in a compact and sturdy till unit.

Baffles d extending into compartment is from partition id prevent specular reflection or scattering of the rays emanating from the copy so that ghos images will not strike the focusing reflector 62. As shown in Fig. 2, the partition Id is built up .to the top of the casing it in a direction normal to an axial plane common to rolls it and 28, only a small area 56 around the lens mount 43 being open to permit light which reaches the lens from one compartment to be reflected to the other compartment. A second partition ll confines the light to the exposure area on roll Eli and prevents fogging of the paper strip it. Another wall it also protects the paper when door as is opened.

Having thus described the preferred embodiment of our invention, we wish to point out that it is not limited to the specific structure shown speeds, a slotted member positioned transversely to the copy feeding means to frame'a portion of the copy, a light source for illuminating said portion of the copy, a focusing reflector positioned at twice its focal length from said portion of the copy and to receive light therefrom, to reflect it into the photo sensitive material compartment and to focus it to an image therein,

,one another, and having driving connections for rotating them at equal speeds in opposite directions, a light source for illuminating the copyfeeding roll, a focusing reflector including a. lens, said reflector being positioned with its optical axis normal to a common axial plane of th two rolls and equidistant from both rolls at a distance from each rolledual to twice the focal length of said focusing reflector so that light received by said reflector from the copy-feeding roll is projected to a focal plane on the sensitized-material f roll.

3. A photo copying machine having a casin a lljl-s device including a pair of parallel coextensive and edit rolls geared together to rotate in opposite directions at equal peripheral speeds, feeding guides for sheet material associated with and over each of said rolls, each of said feeding guides having an opening therein, a light source adjacent to the opening over one of said rolls, a focusing reflector having its optical axis aligned with said mntition, said reflector being positioned to receive light reflected from sheet material ii-in; the opening adjacent to the light source and to project said light to a focal plane at the we 1 i over the other of said rolls and bafie means for preventing light other than said projected light from entering said opening over the other of said rolls.

4. A photo copying machine having a casing, a copy-f feeding roll in said casing, said rolls being parallel, adjacent to one another and co-extensive, means for rotating said rolls in opposite directions at equal peripheral speeds, a. partition in said disposed between said rolls normal to a common axial plane of the letter, said partition having an opening therethrough spaced from said common plane, a focusing reflector in said opening, and alight source so arranged that light therefrom may impinge on said copy-feedroll and a photo sensitive material log roll and be reflected to the focusing reflector,

said reflector being r anged to direct and focus said light onto the photo sensitive material feeding roll;

, 5, A photo copying machine having two driven rolls which are parallel, adjacent, substantially coextensive in length and provided with exposure gates, mid rolls being adapted, respectively, to

feed a copy and photo sensitive material at equal speeds in opposite directions through said gates, a light source positioned to illuminate copy pasing through the copy gate, a focusing reflector including a lens positioned to receive light reflected from the py and to focus it to an image at the other of said gates, and e. casing including partitions arranged to prevent light other than that in said image from impinging on the photo sensitive matenial.

6. A photo copying machine according to claim 4 wherein the two parallel rolls are of equal diameter anti the optic axis of the focusing refiector is perpendicular to the piane common to the axes of the two rolls.

7. A photo copying machine according to claim 4 wherein said rotating means include a gear train having an even number of spur gears cou pling the two rolls.

FREDERICK A. TOMPKINS. FRED E. ALTMAN. 

